Can-Do Kitchen Project

Food for Thought

Can-Do Kitchen and The Adventures of Barb & Tammy featured in Food For Thought, a publication "Sharing the Story of West Michigan's Local Food". Thanks to Sue Osgood for including us in a great magazine!

Fall Conferences

Lucy of the Can-Do Kitchen will be speaking about entrepreneurs and the cottage food law at two great conferences this fall. Check out Michigan Emerging and Farming for the Future for more information.

Mike's Famous!

Congrats to food entrepreneur (and Can-Do Kitchen client) Mike Kruk, whose Mike's Famous Michigan Bean Dip was one of just three winners of a statewide product placement competition. Mike was awarded a year's worth of free shelf space at Westborn Markets in suburban Detroit (Dearborn, Livonia and Berkley)!

Can-Do Kitchen celebrates its second graduate

The Fair Food Matters' Can-Do Kitchen has graduated its second business in five months: Natalie St. Louis has launched her own retail shop.

The Cheese Lady, an 800-square foot shop located at 7035 West Q Avenue in Kalamazoo's Texas Corners (near the "Fresh on Q" Farmers' Market), will be a purveyor of fine cheeses, specialty foods, cheese boards and knives, farmers' market baskets, and eventually, beer and wine. Combining the feel of an old world European market with a bistro, The Cheese Lady will offer 50 different cheeses, some local - such as Reny Picot from Benton Harbor - as well those from other states, and imports from around the world.

St. Louis originally found inspiration in a Muskegon store of the same name. The owner of that store took St. Louis under her wing, and encouraged her to open her own retail location.

In June 2010, St. Louis got started in the Can-Do Kitchen, repackaging bulk cheeses for retail sale. The Can-Do Kitchen provided her with food safety training, help in obtaining her own food license, and a low-risk environment in which to start small and find her niche. Selling her local, domestic and imported cheeses under the name "Say Cheese!" at local farmers' markets, St. Louis built a network of loyal customers.

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The shop is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Can-Do Kitchen Celebrates First Incubator Graduate

Kurry Guru, maker of ready-to-eat, vegetarian Indian meals made with local, sustainable ingredients, began working in the Can-Do Kitchen in June 2009. Armed with her own recipes for curry and chutney, President/Owner Mukta Joshi then undertook the challenging and time-consuming work of starting her own business. The Can-Do Kitchen incubator created a low-risk environment for Joshi, allowing her to start a business without the usual expense and effort of selling prepared food products in a retail environment. As the business grew and stabilized, Joshi needed more hours and storage than the Can-Do Kitchen could offer.

In just one year, Kurry Guru has increased sales nearly 300 percent, and now with four employees, they will be operating out of a small kitchen (2333 Helen Avenue in Portage) that offers room to expand. Kurry Guru products are now available at Sawall Health Food, the People's Food Co-op, Harding's Friendly Market (on Centre Street in Portage), Natural Health Center, and Bronson Hospital's SkyCourt Cafe'. Congratulations to Joshi and Kurry Guru, and to the Can-Do Kitchen for being a catalyst in this endeavor to help further local food production! Visit Kurry Guru's website for more information about them.